The Hindu : Notice to U.P. Govt. on Raja Bhaiya case

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Saturday, Sep 20, 2003

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Notice to U.P. Govt. on Raja Bhaiya case

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 19. The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government on a writ petition challenging the decision of the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government to withdraw the charges under the Prevention of Terrorism Act against Raghubir Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya, MLA.

A Bench, comprising Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Justice G.P. Mathur, asked the Government to state why it was acting in a "lackadaisical" manner to invoke the POTA one day and withdraw it later.

The petition was filed by the relatives of three residents of Pratapgarh district who had deposed as witnesses in certain murder cases against Raja Bhaiya, Uday Pratap Singh and Akshay Pratap Singh.

In their petition, S.K. Shukla, Kunwar Akhilendra Singh and Pitamber Saroj submitted that soon after Mr. Mulayam Singh was appointed Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on August 28, he had advised the Governor to drop the charges against Raja Bhaiya and two others and, accordingly, the Governor had accorded permission on August 29 to withdraw the charges against the accused.

The petitioners contended that the withdrawal of the POTA charges had been done without any mandate from the statute or the law and that the State Government could not usurp and exclude the court's jurisdiction. They prayed for a direction to quash the implementation of the August 29 order.

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